Years ago I was a light smoker. Back in the day I thought nicotine did good things for my ability to think and learn. I was a serious student at the time, studying intensively seven days a week, so a powerful complement to black coffee was welcome in my life.
I both sympathize and empathize with smokers around me today. But I am awfully glad I quit long ago, and I know many other former smokers who feel the same way. Quitting is worth all the short-term distress it can entail.
Some recent scientific news got me thinking again about smoking and how it affects both smokers and those around them. In short, there is plenty of evidence that passive or second-hand smoke is detrimental to people living with smokers. That means that quitting helps not just smokers, but those who share homes (and cars) with them.
Recently the European Heart Journal published a study about the effects of parental smoking on kids. The research focused on some 2400 children in a cohort in Finland and over 1300 in a group in Australia. Researchers noted the smoking behavior of parents – whether the adults were non-smokers, or if one or both of them smoked. When the kids grew up, the researchers examined the kids’ arteries via ultrasound exams.
The study found that artery walls were thicker in kids who had grown up in homes where both parents smoked. Thicker arteries are bad news, making for greater risk of strokes or heart attacks. On average, the kids who grew up in homes where both parents smoked had arteries that were 3.3 years “older” than those who grew up in smoke-free homes. These changes were permanent – a sobering fact to contemplate for any parent (and I might add, any grandparent around the grandkids).
Dr. Seana Gall, lead author of the study, told ScienceDaily, “Parents…should quit smoking. This will not only restore their own health but also protect the health of their children into the future.”
There was further bad news for kids who had two parents who smoked.
“Those with both parents smoking were more likely, as adults, to be smokers or overweight than those whose parents didn’t smoke,” Gall said.
Once again, the news from the world of medical research suggests it is time for people to quit smoking. If you smoke and you have kids (or grandkids) to consider, please talk with your health care provider about an approach to help you kick the habit. Even if you have tried in the past to quit but have failed, this next effort could set you free. It took me more than one attempt to quit, but it was one of the best things I did back in the day.
I know first-hand it ain’t easy to stop smoking. But the life you save might be your own – and you could also be helping the next generation avoid permanent and harmful changes to their young bodies.
I am pulling for both you and your family.
